LucasLand

The Wildflowers

Horse Nettle

Solanum carolinense

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Common names.—Sand brier, bull nettle, radical-weed, tread-softly, apple of Sodom.

DESCRIPTION:
A perenial that has a single prickly erect stem or weakly branched with several star-like white to pale lavender inch-wide flowers in lateral clusters. The flower has elongated anthers that form a cone and petals frequently bent back. The leaves are oblong and coarsely lobed and have prickles on them. The berries are like tiny tomatoes about 1/2 to 3/4" across. This plant is easily recognized in late summer and fall by its round, smooth, orange-yellow berries about one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter which are borne in small drooping clusters. It is an herb 1 to 4 feet high with an erect, branched stem and covered with fine hair. The branches, also the petioles and midveins of the leaves, are armed with straight yellow prickles. The leaves are 2 to 6 inches long with rather deep triangular lobes. From May to September the plant produces violet or white flowers about 1 to 1 1/4 inches broad.

FLOWERS:
May to August

HABITAT:
Grows along roadsides, old fields, gardens and waste places. The horse nettle is found in dry, sandy soil from Ontario to Illinois and Massachusetts, Florida, and Texas.

OTHER INFORMATION:
A member of the Nightshade family, but unrelated to the true nettles.

Actually a pretty sort of flower. The plant is a deep-rooted rhizomatous requiring deep hoeing to get rid of, if you're so inclined